A Network Subscription is what a connecting user needs in order to be able to reach the target computer using the NoMachine Network service. An Enterprise Subscription is needed to activate specific features and functionality in the NoMachine software installed on a server/host. They are subscriptions for two completely different things.

A Network Subscription is licensed per user, specifically per User Id, and counts the number of Network connections started from a given device. When the user is logged in with their User Id on the Player and a connection is created using the Machine Id of a computer published on NoMachine Network, the user automatically connects over the Network Service. Each user that wants to connect to a computer published on NoMachine Network must already be registered and have their own Network Subscription. If the subscription provides one Network connection, that user will be able to start one Network connection. If the subscription provides 4 Network connections, the user will be able to run 4 Network connections from that device, and so on. Each connection can be to different remote NoMachine computers published on Network. Users install any NoMachine client app (either from the NoMachine website or the appropriate app store), login to the Network service in the Player and insert the Machine Id of the computer they want to connect to in order to create a remote access connection over NoMachine Network. The computer the user wants to access can have any NoMachine free or Enterprise software edition installed and must be published on Network.

An Enterprise Subscription is for software. It is required to activate any of the Enterprise server software editions in the NoMachine Enterprise suite, https://www.nomachine.com/enterprise. Enterprise Subscriptions are licensed per host or per server where the software is installed. When you purchase an Enterprise Subscription, you get the functionality according to the chosen product and technical assistance. Any NoMachine user can connect to that server using its IP address, or through Network if the server host has a Machine Id. In the latter case, users connecting using the Machine Id will each require a Network Subscription.

Use them together or on their own
As already mentioned, when you purchase an Enterprise Subscription, you're activating specific features in the NoMachine software along with support services from our dedicated Support Team. If you decide to publish your Enterprise host on NoMachine Network to let users connect over the Network service, users will require a Network Subscription. Users connecting to the remote Enterprise host will still be able to reach it using its IP address or hostname just by using any NoMachine client software on their device, or by using their local browser. Connecting over IP costs nothing for the users that wish to connect and does not require the user to have a NoMachine account nor Network Subscription.

Some typical examples:

1) A professional user that wants to remotely access their home or work computer installs Enterprise Desktop for the additional features. They would would like to reach that Enterprise Desktop computer over the Internet using NoMachine Network. In that case, an Enterprise Desktop Subscription (for the computer they want to access) AND a Network Subscription (for the user) are required.

2) A user that wants to access their home computer or work computer whilst travelling and is happy with the free NoMachine edition installed on the target computer. Purchasing a Network Subscription will allow them to safely access their computer over the Internet using the Network service.

3) A company that has multiple users working from home needs to provide access to multiple Linux desktops all running on the same server(s). The NoMachine software they have chosen is Terminal Server for Linux. The target machines the users connect to all require NoMachine Terminal Server Subscriptions (or other subscriptions from the Enterprise family). Users will connect using only the IP address of the Linux servers, so no user requires a Network Subscription.

4) A NoMachine user requires some IT assistance on their computer where there is NoMachine installed. A relative or colleague offers to help but to remote into the machine requires some network reconfigurations which are not possible. Connecting over NoMachine Network is therefore the solution. The relative/colleague installs any of the NoMachine client applications and acquires a Network Subscription to connect. The user who requires assistance can have the free or Enterprise version installed, it does not matter.